UPDATE: The telecourse mentioned has passed, but the content below is still valid.

It includes a silent and live auction raising $20,000, and you want a bump in that number. You want to grow the bottom line by $5k, so you add two affordable activities into the evening: a $5-ticket raffle and a cash appeal allowing guests to donate varying amounts ranging from $25 to $500. You estimate that ~100 guests will buy the $5 ticket (earning you $500) and the appeal could draw in another 75 people, raising $4500.

Your goal seems within reach.

At this point, your charity’s astute Development Director might get interested. She recognizes the secondary advantage.

Odds are that many of these donors will be new donors. She can market to these people again and again. They’ll read the newsletter showcasing clients … be invited to the Walk-a-Thon … receive the direct mail campaign.

(Incidentally, that’s one of the big advantages of a benefit auction: relationship building.)

Sounds like a smart move, right?

Not so fast.

This is one of those dirty little secrets about an auction fundraiser.

There comes a point where it’s almost impossible for your event to advance unless you’re using benefit auction software.

I’d even go so far as to say you might not want to include some activities, unless you’re prepared to invest in software.

Adding a raffle and appeal builds complexity into your gala. They escort trouble. Think about it — increasing the opportunities for people to give at smaller amounts means that there are more people who will give. How wonderful … until you realize you need to track those smaller amounts and do the same follow-up you would with a donor giving more money.

Let’s look at an example.

Many new-ish benefit auctions fall victim to “unknown guests” when they don’t have software to track their audience. Mr. Anonymous’ ticket may have been paid for by someone else. His contact information is never captured at registration. As our mystery guest enjoys the evening, he pays cash for a couple of raffle tickets.

The money is appreciated, but you’re creating a one-hit-wonder auction. You added money to your bottom-line, but you don’t know who gave it and can’t follow-up with him for bigger gifts. You just missed an easy opportunity to add a new lead to your donor database.

Many small auctions lack the ability to:

accurately track a donation to a specific person

collect donations pledged

record guests’ contact information

Think long-term development.

Activities like a $5 raffle are a catalyst. The raffle may add money to your bottom line, but auctions are as much about relationship-building as they are about money.You need the donor’s name and contact information.

(It can also work the other way. Sometimes small donors turn into big donors at a charity auction. More on that in another post, but suffice to say your benefit auction is part of a larger fundraising strategy.)

When you decide to improve the bottom-line of your auction by adding activities that target donors pledging smaller donations, you’re adding complexity.

About Sherry Truhlar

Fundraising auctioneer and education, helping schools and nonprofits plan more profitable benefit auctions. A prolific writer for her own blog and other fundraising sites, she’s been covered in The Beacon-News, Town & Country Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, Wiley's Special Events Galore!, AUCTIONEER, and other publications.

I’ve attended many auctions over the years and been amazed that my purchase didn’t cause me to receive any future invitations to events, a follow-up message of thanks for purchases over $100 or any future correspondence at all. Your post is a great reminder to use the right tools so organizations CAN keep in touch with the people who are supporting them.

Technology is critical to success of the charity event, but it can be a curse if the wrong technology is used. Your auction technology series will be valuable for organizations to make the right decisions.

Excellent point Sherry! When I sat in the Development Director’s chair, I was ALWAYS making sure that I was capturing names and addresses of all attendees to my events. If they came and had a good time, they were a good potential donor. Thanks for pointing this out – I bet there are lots of nonprofit organizations that totally miss this.

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Sherry, oh, Sherry! You were an invaluable asset to this year’s gala. With your assistance we were able to add so many new elements that truly made a difference in taking our event to another level. This year was the most successful yet! Everyone loved you and the amazing energy that you brought to the event. We look forward to having you again in 2018!

Thank you so much for the outstanding job you did for us on April 1! I have received so much positive feedback from so many who attended. You even earned Sister Suzan’s (our Vice-Principal) seal of approval! Safe travels to all your many events and thank you for making our biggest fundraiser of the year our best ever!

Sherry is flexible and easy to work with. She gives honest feedback and advice throughout the planning and implementation process. Without a doubt, Sherry and Red Apple Auctions has helped take our annual fundraising event to the next level.

Beckie Middendorf, Development Director and Janet Gulla, Development Coordinator

Sherry is “on board” from day one of auction planning, works closely with our steering committee and is only just a phone call away. The night of the auction, we toss her the keys and let her drive the event! We are never disappointed!

I was very fortunate to have Red Apple on board for my first auction. Working with Sherry was invaluable. She provided guidance at every phase of planning, from procurement on forward – and she challenged us to make our event more ambitious and more successful at every stage. Thank you, Sherry!

Sherry, personally, I can’t even begin to tell you the immense amount of positive feedback that I received having YOU (and Darby) there with is this year! Some of the tidbits: You added EXCITEMENT and ENTERTAINMENT… You added EXPERTISE and FUN… You helped the evening FLOW, in a wonderful and positive direction… You were FUN,… Read The Rest “Anne Livaudais Knudsen, 5th year gala co-chair”

Aren’t KK and Michael a cute couple? They liked that I “moved the crowd along … kept the crowd engaged but wasn’t obtrusive or invasive. We were able to talk but still keep track of what was going on.”

You have NO idea of how many people came up to me (I know Julie as well) and said, ‘That auctioneer was incredible … she engaged the crowd, … she got the bidders to bid without being rude/pushing, … I loved observing her, I just watched her, … she did a great job.’ It was… Read The Rest “Staci Meruvia”

Geri said: “Great job of getting potential donors in the room to step up to the plate and not feel guilty or bad about it. They actually wanted to give more … and that’s not something I’ve seen in many other auctioneers.” The following year, she herself ‘stepped up’ and became one of the gala… Read The Rest “Geri”

Irene attended one of my New Hampshire auctions and assumed I must be a radio personality — until I started to chant that fast talk. “I’ve been to this event before with a couple of other auctioneers,” she said, “Your ability to get personal with people in a way that isn’t intimidating — men, women,… Read The Rest “Irene”

Most product & consulting remarks are found on their respective webpages, but I’ve listed two below so you’re assured my products are as spot-on as my auctioneering. Not only was our 2013 auction a blast, but our Washington, D.C. public school raised $67,000 — that’s $25,000 more than last year! The evening went off… Read The Rest “Carolyn Kahn-Hall and Andrea Del Vecchio”

As a former Fox News Anchorwoman, I am often called on to perform at auctions. So, I know first-hand that auctioneering can be a difficult job. Sherry Truhlar is one of the best in the business. She is skillful at managing an audience and keeping them focused on the task at hand – which is… Read The Rest “Cynthia Steele Vance”